Adranus is a town in Sicily, according to Nymphodorus, and in this town there is a temple to Adranus, a local divinity. And they say that he is there in very presence. And all that Nymphodorus tells of him besides, and how he shows himself and how kindly and favourable he is to his suppliants, we shall learn some other time. But now I shall give the following facts. There are sacred hounds and they are his servants and ministers; they surpass Molossians in beauty and in size as well, and there are not less than a thousand of them. Now in the daytime they welcome and fawn upon visitors to the shrine and the grove, whether they be strangers or natives. But at night they act as escorts and leaders, and with great kindness conduct those who are already drunk and staggering along the road, guiding each one to his own house, while those who indulge in tipsy frolics they punish as they deserve, for they leap upon them and rip their clothes to pieces and chasten them to that extent. But those who are bent on highway robbery they tear most savagely.
Aelian, On the nature of animals, book XI.19
Adranus or Adranos ('Αδρανός) was an ancient fire god worshipped by the Sicels, the ancient inhabitants of the island of Sicily ("a god highly honoured throughout all Sicily" Plutarch, Life of Timoleon, 12.2). He is sometimes identified as the father of the Palici.
In his honor "a certain famous temple" (Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, XIV, 37.5) was built at the foot of Mount Etna, and because of this connection with the vulcan, he was later absorbed by Hephaestus (or in some versions literally driven out by his Greek colleague).
The temple became the protagonist of a prodigy mentioned by Plutarch in his Life of Timoleon. As the Corinthian general had come to Sicily in 344BC after answering the call of distress of the Syracusan people (Syracuse was a colony of Corinth). The city (weakened by the constant friction with Carthage) had been occupied by the forces of Hicetas, tyrant of Leontini, leaving only the heart of the city, the island of Ortygia in the hand of the legitimate ruler, the tyrant Dionysius II.
The decisive battle took place before the walls of Adranòn, the city built by Dionysius I near the temple of the god Adranus, on the slopes of Mount Etna. "the people of Adranum threw open their gates and joined Timoleon, reporting to him with terror and amazement that at the beginning of the battle the sacred portals of their temple flew open of their own accord, and the spear of the god was seen to be trembling to the tip of its point, while copious sweat ran down his face. " (Life of Timoleon, XII.9)
The city and the adjoining temple would be later sieged and occupied by the Roman army during the First Punic War in 263BC. In this occasion the god's simulacrum would disappear, it is unsure whether it was smuggled by some Roman soldier or, perhaps, hidden by the same people of Adranos to avoid it being taken away.
In fact, Adranum combined within himself the image of a warrior god (he was depicted on coins as a man wearing an helmet and carrying a spear) and of a fire god. More precisely it is his warrior side that made Adranus particularly loved by the infamous mercenaries Mamertines, who most likely associated him with their tutelary deity, the Oscan war god Māmers (Mamertines meant the sons of Māmers, who will later become the Latin Mars).
Perhaps though the most interesting aspect about Adranus' cult is his connection to dogs. As recorded by Aelian in his On the nature of animals (who, in turn, cites Nymphodorus of Syracuse), according to folklore, the temple of Adranus was guarded by more than a thousands of sacred dogs. These four legged priests tended on the pilgrims who came to visit the temple. As night fell, they made sure these people (especially those who had too much to drink) arrived home safely, but at the same time they punished those who misbehaved to the point of killing highway robbers. Apparently Adranus' dogs inspired one of most famous Sicilian curses “Chi ti pozzanu manciari li cani” (may the dogs eat you).
